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Scientists from Columbia University, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a robot that’s just 4 nanometers wide. And no, it doesn’t have flashing lights, video cameras or wheels. It does, however, have four legs, and the ability to start, move, turn, and stop. Descendants of the molecular nanobot, or “spider,” could someday be used to treat diseases such as cancer or diabetes…
Continue Reading Scientific team creates molecular robot from DNA

Tags: DNA,
Medical,
Nanostructures,
Nanotechnology,
Robot

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This morning when I woke up, I thought to myself: “Man — I sure hope there isn’t anything sitting in my tips inbox that is so simple and yet so clever that it makes me feel completely inadequate.”

Apparently I didn’t hope hard enough.
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

By the end of 2011, two thirds of U.S. airline passengers will be asked to step through one of 1,000 new Rapiscan X-ray machines. But some scientists are concerned about the unprecedented radiation exposure coming along with them. More »

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that it has opened an investigation into 33,000 2004 Chevrolet Corvettes over complaints of leaky fuel tanks. NHTSA said that it opened an investigation after getting 30 complaints from customers “alleging either liquid fuel or fuel vapor leaking from a fuel tank.”

In 12 of the reports, a fuel tank was replaced or identified as the source of the leak. The Corvette has two fuel tanks.

“We are aware of the NHTSA investigation into the 2004 Corvette and are cooperating with the agency,” GM spokesman Alan Adler. Adler said he wasn’t aware of any reported injuries or accidents.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

It’s been way too long since we gave the fantasy football community something to ridicule. Below you’ll find the first round of a 12-team point-per-reception (PPR) mock draft. Assume the following starting roster spots: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, K, DEF. Please critique…

Chris Johnson, Ten, RB – Round 1, Pick 1
What needs to be said? Not only did he reach the rarified air of 2,000 rushing yards last season, but he also was one of eight running backs to sang at least 50 passes. His speed is on an island unto himself – his 22 rushing plays of 20-plus yards were 10 more than the runner-up in that category. (Brandon Funston)

Maurice Jones-Drew(notes), Jac, RB – Round 1, Pick 2
Please don’t trot out that weak… excuse that Jones-Drew is an injury risk because of his size. He’s proven much more durable than everybody’s All-American, AP. MoJo has yet to miss a game because of injury, and last season he accrued the third-most touches in the league. MoJo is good at the goal line and one of the best receiving backs in the league. In a PPR league, I make this pick without hesitation. (Funston)

Ray Rice(notes), Bal, RB – Round 1, Pick 3
The Long Gain Rice is no one-hit Vanilla Ice. Last season’s pace-setter in receptions for rushers grabbed 78 passes, outdistancing Peterson by a mere four total fantasy points in PPR formats. Assuming John Harbaugh finally strips away Willis McGahee’s(notes) goal-line duties, Rice will easily finish in the position’s top three. Keep in mind the TD vulture had five more carries inside the five – and five more touchdowns – compared to Rice a season ago. (Brad Evans)

Adrian Peterson, Min, RB – Round 1, Pick 4
Casual players will immediately scream "Blasphemy!" seeing the Purple Jesus slide to No. 4, but since this league rewards versatile backs, his ejection from the catbird seat is warranted. Peterson is coming off career bests in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards, but uncertainties surrounding Barbara Favre’s return slightly discount his overall stock. If the ageless wonder finally decides to pitch hay instead of passes, the Vikings rushing attack will take a minor hit. (Noise)

Frank Gore(notes), SF, RB – Round 1, Pick 5
Since there the top-four are clear cut, picking fifth is hardly ideal, but Gore isn’t a bad consolation prize. He totaled 1,526 yards with a career-high 13 touchdowns (thanks to a big improvement at the goal line) while missing essentially three games last season. Admittedly, he’s played a full 16-game slate just once during his five years in the league, but San Francisco used two first round picks to address the offensive line, and with Vernon Davis(notes) and Michael Crabtree(notes) emerging, defenses can no longer stack eight in the box. It’s exciting to think what Gore could do if he managed to stay healthy with the best supporting cast of his career. (Dalton Del Don)

Rashard Mendenhall(notes), Pit, RB – Round 1, Pick 6
I strongly considered Michael Turner(notes) here, but the PPR format made me ultimately look elsewhere. Mendenhall isn’t going to rack up receptions, but he showed improvement in that area last year and has earned the role as Pittsburgh’s workhorse. The Steelers should remain one of the better teams in the NFL while also returning to their smash-mouth roots, so Mendenhall is set up for success. (DDD)

Andre Johnson(notes), Hou, WR – Round 1, Pick 7
Andre Johnson and the PPR format is a perfect match, like Monroe and Frazier, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Evans and Butler. Johnson has collected a ridiculous 216 grabs for 3,144 yards the last two years, and all the main components of this offense remain in place (a Pro Bowl-level QB in Matt Schaub(notes), and an offensive mastermind in Gary Kubiak). Johnson’s low TD count might concern some (just 25 the last three years) but when someone gets this much volume in a passing game, I’m happy to write the check. We know we’ll get eight or more spikes, and some year, with a little luck, he’ll post 12 or more – receiving scores are more volatile than a lot of fantasy players realize. Johnson would be a respectable pick here even without the PPR tailwind; with it, he’s a slam dunk. (Scott Pianowski)

Larry Fitzgerald(notes), Ari, WR – Round 1, Pick 8
I’m not worried too much about Fitzgerald losing Anquan Boldin(notes) – at the end of the day, opportunity trumps protection when it comes to elite wideouts (though many will play either card if it suits their argument). The drop from Kurt Warner(notes) to Matt Leinart(notes), OK, that’s a concern. But I’m happy to bet on a freakishly talented athlete like Fitzgerald, and maybe Leinart will finally blossom now that he’s had a few years to learn the pro game and grow up a bit (he was a first-round pick and a Heisman Trophy winner, after all). Fitzgerald caught 22 TD passes his final year at Pittsburgh, working with the forgettable Rod Rutherford; he’ll find a way to make things work in the post-Warner era. (Pianow)

Steven Jackson, Stl, RB – Round 1, Pick 9
Jackson deserves a medal for his 2009 season. The Rams won one game. Their TD/INT ratio was among the worst in football and no team was less threatening downfield (St. Louis had only two pass plays cover 40 or more yards). Yet there was Jackson, ranking second in the league in rushing, averaging 4.4 yards per tote and even checking in with four touchdowns in eight games after the bye. St. Louis won’t be much better in 2010 – though this is the NFL, so you never know – but the Rams did upgrade at offensive line and in Sam Bradford(notes) have a guy who may be able to stretch defenses if he gets a second-half audition. There are odometer concerns and Jackson did just have minor back surgery, but he has PPR-friendly hands and one way to reduce wear and tear on your workhorse is to get him more involved in the passing game. Ten TDs is a bit optimistic in an offense this bad. I’ll settle for 7-8 scores, another 1,200-plus yards and 50-65 grabs out of the backfield. (Matt Romig)

Jamaal Charles(notes), KC, RB – Round 1, Pick 10
Charles scored all eight of his touchdowns in the final eight weeks of the season, closing out the campaign with 737 yards from scrimmage in the final four weeks. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry on the season (now 5.7 career) and was recipient of 25-plus touches every game in Weeks 14-17. His reward? The Chiefs signed Thomas Jones(notes) and drafted another running back, Dexter McCluster(notes), in the second round. If there’s concern in fantasy circles, it will only serve to hand Charles believers a nice draft-day discount. The Jones signing makes sense. Charles is undersized and is coming off minor shoulder surgery. Does he cede some red-zone touches to the bigger Jones? Sure, but like Chris Johnson, Charles can score from anywhere. McCluster was drafted more as a slot/wildcat guy, and the Chiefs are reportedly already tinkering with ways to get Charles, Jones and the rookie on the field at the same time. I just can’t see Charles’ talent getting marginalized by either newcomer. (Mig)

Reggie Wayne(notes), Ind, WR – Round 1, Pick 11
Reggie has posted triple-digit reception totals and double-digit TDs in two of the past three seasons, and he’s caught at least 80 passes every year since 2004 (when he caught 77). As a key contributor in a high-yield offense, Wayne is as reliable as it gets. If he has a down year, the final numbers will still be useful. The top running backs remaining aren’t exactly perfect fits in PPR, so this team waits at least a round to draft the position. (Andy Behrens)

Randy Moss(notes), NE, WR – Round 1, Pick 12
Moss was widely criticized last season, yet he still finished with 83 catches, 1,264 yards and 13 scores. Like Wayne, he’s one of the most dependable scorers in the game, even if he’s on the wrong side of 30. The big question facing this team at the turn is whether to draft a proven running back who won’t catch passes (Michael Turner), an unproven running back who might catch passes (Ryan Mathews(notes)), or another elite receiver (Megatron). Please stay tuned… (Behrens)

—

Photos via US Presswire

Today, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden released their financial disclosure forms from 2009. In them, you can learn that Obama made $1 million in royalties from each of his books, and donated his Nobel Peace Prize winnings. But the most interesting point? Bo the Portuguese Water Dog, a gift to the Obamas from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, is worth $1600.

Whither the lizards?

That’s what biologist Barry Sinervo has been asking lately. In a study published on Friday in Science, Sinvero’s team raised the alarm about lizards around the world, saying that at the very least 6 percent of lizard species will go extinct by 2050, and as many as 20 percent could disappear forever by 2080.

Sinervo and his colleagues make this claim based in part on surveys they did in Mexico.

Sinervo and his team surveyed 48 species of spiny lizards at 200 sites on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico that had been studied in detail from 1975 to 1995 and found that 12 percent of that population had already become extinct by 2009.

The lizards lived in well-protected areas like national parks, so it wasn’t habitat destruction that caused the population decline, Sinervo said. Instead, it was a tale of rising temperatures disrupting lizard lives [San Francisco Chronicle].

A lot of studies point the finger at global warming in one way or another, but Sinervo’s team says that there’s a good reason why lizard populations would fade in a warmer world.

Global warming appears to be lengthening the period of the day when lizards must seek shelter or risk fatal overheating. In the breeding season, that sheltering period is now so long that females of many species are unable to eat enough food to produce eggs and offspring [Washington Post].

To bolster their claim, the team created their own fake lizards equipped with thermometers and set them out in the Mexican sun. In two areas where the lizards seem to have disappeared, Sinervo says, there were more than 9 hours a day on average that would’ve been too hot for the lizards to come out of hiding. In two areas where lizards still remained, the midday heat was far less brutal.

In an accompanying essay in Science, Raymond Huey writes that the case is a strong one, and worrisome. However, he wonders, can you really make extinction predictions based on these findings?

Huey warns that not seeing lizards doesn’t mean that they’re not there. They may just have been overlooked. “Populations go up and down,” he says. Still, he notes, Sceloporus [a Mexican lizard] is very conspicuous. “It would be hard to miss” [Nature].

Only follow-up surveys can truly confirm that the lizards’ slow disappearance is real and not “psuedo-extinction,” Huey says. Sinervo and his team are presently in Spain, preparing to do a survey in the Pyrenees Mountains.

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Image: Fausto Mendez de la Cruz

Article Tags: Audio, Piers Corbyn, UK Summer Forecast 2010

Click to listen to Piers Corbyn give his UK summer forecast to Sun Talk Radio, then slide the recording timer to 1:27:00

Read in full with comments »   

The MTM Audi R8 GT3-2 comes with a supercharged 4.2 FSI engine, producing 560 HP (412 kW) at 7.750 RPM and a torque of 580 Nm at 5.500 RPM. Enough power to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and take the speedometer needle up to 317 km/h, barrier is no “Quattro” but a modified R8 with rear wheel drive from the Audi refiner MTM. With differential lock and new adjustments, the GT3-2 floats presently with its driving concept as the only one RWD Street-legal Audi, in the footsteps of the Audi high powered cars that are challenging the DTM or the GT Series.

The MTM Audi R8 GT3-2 also comes with a lightweight and solid MTM forged wheels on Dunlop Sport Maxx GT / Michelin Cup Sport tyres. The 20” rims in the size 9×20 ET 42 (front axle) and 12,5×20 ET 60 (rear axle) shelter the 380 x 34 mm – punched, ventilated – MTM brake system.

Source: Lincah.Com – New Car and Used Car Pictures

While Optimus Prime and his fellow Transformers may be pure fiction, shape-shifting cars are destined to become a reality. Over the years here at Gizmag we’ve featured several examples including the Vauxhall Flextreme GT/E with its retractable aerodynamic body panels, the Rinspeed iChange with its ability to change from a one- to a three-seater, and the flexible-skinned BMW Gina. Now, it’s time to add another one to the list, as a design concept if not an actual prototype – the wheel-configuration-changing Cell…
Continue Reading Tom Kent’s shape shifting electric vehicle concept

Tags: Concept Cars,
Electric vehicle,
Prototype,
Tilting

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NVIDIA promised a Tegra smartphone from a “top five” manufacturer before 2010, but it never materialized. Then at this year’s CES, NVIDIA unveiled the Tegra 2 platform which is based off a next-generation ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor. We expected to see the Tegra 2 platform used mainly in Android tablets this year, but new information from NVIDIA’s latest earnings call suggest we could see handsets using the powerful processor by Q3 2010.

The strategy for NVIDIA’s first-generation Tegra was to focus on one platform (the Microsoft Zune), but Android will be the primary focus for the second-generation of Tegra 2 designs. NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told analyst that the next generation of Android phones would focus on performance and their Tegra 2 would be able to keep up (if not, be much better) than Apple’s A4 1 GHz processor used in the iPad (and upcoming iPhone 4).

When questioned if these NVIDIA-powered Android handsets would actually be on the market this year or if they were just referring to available design sockets, NVIDIA responded they’ve already been working with partners on the designs and the products should ship during Q3-Q4 2010.

If NVIDIA is able to achieve their goal, they could claim the fastest Android phone this Christmas. Intel is also trying to get their Moorestown platform into products later this year, but it remains to be seen which handset makers will pick it up. The main two application processor companies in the Android world right now include Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, but the competition is about to get really stiff.

At this point it appears to be anyone’s game, but the handset makers have likely already chosen the winners for this Christmas. Which processor would you like to see in your next high-end Android device?

Key features of Tegra 2:

• Dual-core ARM Cortex -A9 MPCore Processor
  • Symmetric Multi-Processing support for blazing fast web browsing performance, improving load times and rendering of complex pages
  • Processing efficiency of Cortex-A9 provides industry leading performance in lowest power envelope

• Ultra Low Power NVIDIA Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)
  • Enhanced NVIDIA graphics technology, enabling full Flash acceleration for an uncompromised HD web browsing experience
  • Next generation 3D rendering performance for the most compelling user interfaces and advanced mobile games

• Full High Definition Multimedia
  • Up to 1080p video encode/decode and support for HD Web streaming formats, such as YouTube HD
  • Complete HW accelerated HD multimedia engine for visually stunning movie playback at lowest possible power

• NVIDIA Low Power Management Architecture
  • Effective power management techniques, such as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling, for ultra-efficient power consumption across all use cases
  • Low-power design delivers over 140 hours audio and over 16 hours of HD video playback

Tegra 2 specs include:

• Processor and Memory Subsystem
  • Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, up to 1.0 GHz
  • 32-bit LP-DDR2, DDR2

• Ultra Low Power NVIDIA Graphics
  • OpenGL ES 2.0
  • Programmable pixel shader
  • Programmable vertex and lighting
  • 2x 3D graphics performance of previous generation Tegra

• Full High Definition Multimedia
  • 1080p H.264/VC-1/MPEG-4 Video Decode
  • 1080p H.264 Video Encode
  • Supports multi-standard audio formats, including AAC, AMR, WMA, and MP3
  • Upgraded JPEG encode and decode acceleration

• Integrated Image Signal Processing
  • Up to 12 megapixel camera sensor support
  • Advanced imaging features (AWB, AF, AE, etc.)

• Display Subsystem
  • True dual-display support
  • Maximum display resolutions supported:
    • 1080p (1920×1080) HDMI 1.3
    • WSXGA+ (1680×1050) LCD
    • UXGA (1600×1200) CRT
    • NTSC/PAL TV output

In the post below I pointed to various differences in regards to acceptance of evolution by demographic. One of the issues is that just because X correlates with Y, does not entail that X causes Y (and of course, if X correlates with Y, and Y correlates with Z, that does not entail that X correlates with Z). You can use the GSS to run some regressions and see what the strongest predictive variables. Because of this I know that the variable BIBLE is very predictive of skepticism of evolution. Additionally, even smart people with college educations who have a literal inerrant view of the Bible are skeptical of evolution. To show the power of Biblical fundamentalism I thought it would be useful to plot differences in regards to the Index of Creationism by various demographics for both Fundamentalists and non-Fundamentalists. So below I have a set of charts which have two series, one for Fundamentalists, and one for non-Fundamentalists, of a given demographic. So for example one chart has Fundamentalists and non-Fundamentalists separated by attainment or non-attainment of college educations.

The primary variables are BIBLE & SCITEST4.

BIBLE is:

Which of these statements comes closest to describing your feelings about teh Bible? 1. The Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word. 2. The Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally, word for word. 3. The Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by men.

I recoded so that responses 2 and 3 are classed as non-Fundamentalist.

SCITEST4:

For each statement below, just check the box that comes closest to your opinion of how true it is. In your opinion, how true is this? d. Human beings developed from earlier species of animals.

I created the Index of Creationism = (% “definitely not true”) X 3 + (% “probably not true”) X 2 + (% “probably true”) X 1, from three of the four responses to SCITEST4.

In the charts below the blue squares = Fundamentalists. The red diamonds = non-Fundamentalists. I rescaled so that 1 is the minimum for the Index of Creationism on all charts.

Reminder: blue squares = Fundamentalists, red diamonds = non-Fundamentalists. A few notes. For stupid, average and smart, I simply recoded the WORDSUM vocabulary test. Stupid = 0-4, Average = 5-7 and Smart = 8-10. For region, it’s pretty self-explanatory, though do note that I placed Texas and such in the South, not the West. The West are the Pacific & Mountain regions only. Those with no college degree includes all those without bachelor’s degrees (non-four year degrees).

Do you notice the counterintuitive pattern when it comes to intelligence and Creationism, and income and Creationism? The sample size for SCITEST4 isn’t that hot, so you could chalk it up to noise, but I’ve done enough poking around the GSS to trust this. There is a pattern where very intelligent and/or high socioeconomic status Fundamentalists adhere to the viewpoint which in the general population is correlated with lower intelligence and socioeconomic status. I think the dynamic here is partly the same one when it comes to political polarization: stupid and lower status people tend to be less ideologically coherent because they don’t spend much time thinking about abstract questions. From what little field investigation I’ve performed dull human tends to fixate on sensory or interpersonal questions, not intellectual ones. In other words, very stupid Fundamentalists may not even understand what they’re being asked. Very stupid people also tend to agree that they’re political moderates more often than the intelligent; moderate seems like a good thing to say for someone who never thinks about politics. I think this issue to some extent explains the lack of effect among Roman Catholics. Unlike Protestants views about the Bible are less emphasized in Roman Catholicism traditionally, so many Catholics may not have well thought out opinions on the topic. Those who answer that they believe the Bible is the literal and inerrant Word of God may not really even know what this really should mean. The question is geared toward those with Protestant presuppositions.

There may also be the secondary effect of self-selection when it comes to intelligence and income for Fundamentalists. Fundamentalism tends to correlate with lower intelligence and income, and those who choose to remain Fundamentalists despite higher intelligence and income may self-select for the most extreme and rigorous subset of this class. More theologically liberal and lax Protestant denominations tend to be biased toward wealthy and well-educated individuals, some of whom have switched denominations as they go up the class hierarchy. Those who refuse to switch as they ascend the class ladder may be a peculiar subset. By contrast, lower class status denominations may include more lax individuals in relation to belief or practice who would not feel comfortable in a liberal denomination because of their class status.

This pattern of social sorting probably explains the fact that region still has a significant predictive power even controlling for Fundamentalism. Northeastern Fundamentalists are equivalent in skepticism toward evolution as Southern non-Fundamentalists. I have seen similar tendencies among black Americans in relation to social issues and religion; secular individuals who are black are invariably more socially conservative that secular individuals who are white. I think this is a function of the fact that secular blacks are embedded in a more socially conservative cultural milieu. Similarly, non-Fundamentalist Southerners are embedded in a more Creationist culture, as Fundamentalists are numerically more preponderant in the South than non-Fundamentalists. New Englanders exhibit the inverted tendency. Someone who is a conservative, Fundamentalist or Republican in New England may actually be liberal, theologically moderate and a Democrat in the South.

Variables: Region, Wordsum, Relig, Income, Degree, Scitest4

GQ’s app looks good, but it’s not exactly flying off the iTunes App Store shelves: The December 2009 issue only sold 365 iPad copies. Solution? Slap Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr on the next cover and hope for the best. More »

David Einhorn’s Greenlight bet big on CIT group last quarter.

The fund owned around 6.3 million in the 4th quarter and last quarter, Q1, Greenlight bought up 4 million more shares to bring his total to around 10 million shares worth ~$420 million.

He also bought more shares of Pfizer. Last quarter, Einhorn owned less than 3 million shares for around $50 million. As of last quarter, that stake was up to $300 million (14 million shares).

The only other big moves for Greenlight was selling out of ~$230 million worth (~6 million shares) of Cardinal Health. And selling almost entirely out of Energy Partners, which was a $12 million investment last quarter. Now Einhorn’s down to owning less than $500,000 worth of the stock (around 43,000 shares).

Einhorn also got rid of ~33 million shares in Flagstar Bancorp, worth ~$16 million.

All of this is reported in Einhorn’s 13F filing with the SEC.

Check out which bank Paulson bet big on last quarter –>

Eric Mindic’s bank bets show that he agrees with both of them –>

Join the conversation about this story »

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Last week we saw a nice little semi-rugged ultraportable (or notelet, as I like to say) introduced by Dell, and although it seemed just a little underpowered for the price, its build quality might make up for it. And here we have another ultraportable, an Inspiron, showing up on Dell Singapore. Powered by the newest mobile AMD chipset and Neo processors and the usual better-than-netbook-but-not-quite-notebook specs, it seems like a perfectly decent little fellow.

Here are the vital statistics for the M301z:

13.3″ “widescreen HD” – implies 1366×768
Athlon II Neo [email protected] GHz or Turion II Neo [email protected] GHz
2GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM (4GB max)
Mobility Radeon HD 4225 (onboard, essentially)
Optional webcam (how can this be optional now?)
2x USB 2.0, 1xeSATA/USB 2.0, multi-card reader, the usual other ports

More importantly for its “ultaportable” status, it’s less than an inch thin and weighs a… well, not exceptionally light 3.9lb. It starts at 999SGD, or about $720. Not a bad buy if you ask me! We’ll probably be seeing a lot more AMD lightweight models coming out, and we’ll keep you informed of the most interesting of them.

[via TechReport]

Filed under: Infiniti, Rumormill, Design/Style, Luxury

These kind of conversations go on all the time. An automaker will consider variations on the theme of a particular model, and the rabid media will occasionally pick up a snippet of that chatter and blow it way out of proportion. We can’t say whether rumors of a two-door M coupe are reality or just spitballing, though many would argue that such a model is a necessity for success.

A two-door M could be offered in both V6 M37 form, and with a V8 as the M56. InsideLine has a rendering that shows a pretty spiffy premium coupe with a unique roof pillar treatment. It’s a nice rendering, but we can posit that the production version won’t be wearing a piece of C-pillar finery to make a ’61 Valiant jealous.

[Source: InsideLine]

Rendered Speculation: Nissan mulling Infiniti M Coupe? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 May 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

An Olsen twin was flying from JFK to to Los Angeles when the United Airlines plane she was traveling in caught on fire and had to land in DC.

EW says an electrical fire caused a crack in the planes windshield. The Washington Post says that the fire was small and there were no injuries, but that the runway was closed for about 40 minutes while the plane was inspected.

No guitars were harmed.

Plane with fire in cockpit sent to Dulles [WaPo]

Ashley Olsen Safe After Flight Makes Emergency Landing [Eonline]

After a quarter-million scientific papers, you’d better hope your methodology was solid.

Most of the studies you’ve probably heard of that try to tie a specific region of the brain to an action or feeling probably relied on a functional MRI technique that tracks the flow of oxygenated blood–so when you see a region “light up” on an fMRI image, that’s not the fMRI picking up the actual neurons firing. Rather, it watches for small changes in blood oxygen levels in the region. This method, called blood oxygenation level-dependence (BOLD), presumes that active neurons use more energy and thus require more oxygen. Now, in a study in Nature, researchers at Stanford Medical Center have provided direct evidence that the inference is correct.

Lead researcher Karl Deisseroth employed a technique called optogenetics to prove the point. He and his colleagues engineered brain cells that respond to a flash of blue light; when they did this trick on cells in the motor cortex of rats, the flash of light acted as a trigger to active the neurons there. The idea was that they would examine these rats with fMRI at the same time they stimulated those motor neurons with the blue light. If the fMRI lit up in the same places where the researchers knew they were stimulating neurons, they could be confident that fMRI was really picking up brain activation.

Sure enough, when the neurons were turned on with a pulse of blue light, the researchers detected a strong BOLD signal emanating from the motor cortex neurons’ neighborhood. The BOLD signals were exactly what was expected. “It was very compelling and reassuring,” Deisseroth says. “Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief” [Science News].

Still, the brain’s complexity never ceases to amaze: While the optogenetic stimulation produced neuron activity that the fMRI scans registered as a BOLD signal, there was other activity besides that showing up as BOLD activity. But, Deisseroth says, those seem to be secondary signals caused by the initial neuron activity.

“We’re certainly not saying that other processes don’t contribute to these signals,” he says. “We’re saying that driving these excitatory neurons kicks it off” [Science News].

Besides reassuring neuroscientists, the Stanford work could also open doors for them, like allowing them to see when brain activity is one region is connected to activity on the other side of the brain.

Optogenetics works at micro scale and fMRI covers wide regions of the brain—together this means that scientists have a way to intervene and experiment with entire brain circuits, to finally see how a certain type of brain cell affects the wider global activity of the entire brain [Scientific American].

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DISCOVER: Rise of the Mind Readers
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DISCOVER: The Pugnacious Paper That Aims to Turn Neuroscience on Its Head

Image: NASA

As if making money magically disappear from your bank account wasn’t easy enough, DeviceFidelity’s new In2Pay case, which will let iPhone users make contactless transactions on Visa’s payWave system, will turn you into the Dumbledore of mobile payment. More »